Virtual welcome centers will inform visitors in real time

Tuesday

Jun 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

It’s your community, coming to a screen near you.

KATIE HANSEN Daily News Staff

It’s your community, coming to a screen near you.

Tourism in Onslow County will get a boost with seven virtual welcome center screens that will provide real-time information bout local weather, tourism, current events and more. The welcome centers are making their way to locations across the county so locals and visitors can see what the area has to offer.

Onslow County Tourism Director Theresa Carter is spearheading the project and said the screens will be set up in the following locations:

A 32-inch TV connected to a computer will be in the front lobby of the Swansboro Chamber’s Welcome Center at 203 W. Church St.and will be the only touchscreen out of all the virtual welcome centers. The rest will connect to a mouse for an interactive experience.

Onslow County Museum Division Head Lisa Whitman-Grice said they are very excited about getting one of the screens at the OnslowCountyMuseum, where the first center will be installed by the end of this week.

“We’re the perfect jumping-off point, the western gateway center into the county from the interstate,” Whitman-Grice said.

She said the information they plan to share on the virtual welcome center will include a calendar of events for the entire county not just Richlands, where the museum is located. She also wants to include items of historical interest, possibly even short historical films or clips, on the TV which will sit in the front lobby of the museum.

Carter said they have only just started exploring the many uses for centers.

Each location will be able to program location-specific information on its TV and will be able to share information with other virtual welcome centers as well. Carter hopes this will encourage visitors to explore other communities in the area.

Carter said the screens will provide a clearer picture of how many visitors are in the area at a given time by analyzing the activity on the TVs.

Each TV can be filled with information from its remote location or centrally from the county.

“The county could take them over in emergency situations if necessary,” Carter said.

Then it could display emergency messages to tell people pertinent information about safety or evacuation procedures — such as a hurricane that may be headed for the area.

If one community makes a video of a local event or festival, they can put it in the central system for other virtual welcome centers to use.

Carter said that will be especially nice in situations such as when one community is experiencing inclement weather, and they can encourage visitors to head to another town to see the sights.

“This is our way of helping push people to and from different places,” she said.

She said it’s possible locations such as the airport could use the 55-inch HD TVs with 3D capabilities as entertainment when a flight is delayed.

Additionally, in front of every building with a virtual welcome center there will be a quick response code so people with smart phones can scan it and visit the Onslow County Tourism website when the buildings are closed. Carter said she hopes to see the virtual welcome centers in locations that are open around the clock.

The tourism office pursued the idea of the virtual welcome centers when they learned that visitors were not venturing into Jacksonville. Folks visiting local beaches would either stay near the beach or gravitate toward Wilmington, not knowing what Jacksonville had to offer.

“The challenge was, ‘How do we get the word out about all the things we have to do? How are we pushing them back and forth across the town lines in the county?” she said.

Tourism teamed up with Onslow County and the City of Jacksonville for the project. Onslow County Board of Commissioners granted funding for the virtual welcome centers from the hotel occupancy tax fund.

The funding means Onslow County will own the centers outright, Carter said, allowing each location and the county to promote whatever events, activities and partners they wish without having to run advertisements.

Supplies were bought last month, and installation is tentatively scheduled to begin at the end of this month. Officials say they will be installed at least by the end of the year.Onslow County ITS IT specialist Matt Dolejs will help install the centers which will have the capability to hook up to the county's network.

Dolejs said the virtual welcome centers will give people information at their fingertips.

“Everyone, new and old, is getting used to technology,” he said.

Carter said the program is cost-effective when compared to opening more visitors centers or tourism offices with additional support staff.

“I can’t even begin to tell you all the things we’re going to use it for,” Carter said. “I just think it’s going to give us the ability to service our visitors better.”